Intermittant starter failure, Work or break! Pick one! Options

[ammason]

So my 73 2.0L has an issue, but I can't track it down... 95% of the time it's great, but every once in a while, it just won't start. I have power - headlights, radio, etc; and if I push start it it starts up just fine, but 1 parking job out of 20 leaves me with nothing. No solenoid engaging, nothing but the dash lights coming on to let me know I have no oil pressure.

The five or six times this has happened I've been without a multimeter and have needed to get somewhere, so I've just pushed and gone, but it's damned annoying and one of these day's I'll get myself into a situation I can't get out of.

Yesterday I had to push start it in reverse in a parking lot while blocking up traffic. It's a helluva way to impress the chicks, let me tell you...

I'll do my best to test it when it happens next, but am I describing typical symptoms of a part needing to be replaced? Ignition switch? Solenoid? Bueller?

Thanks!

Aaron

[bd1308]

soloinoid....definately. i had 2 do the same exact thing.

[Rand]

I wouldn't say definitely. It could be, but mine was a cracked ignition switch. Which is actually pretty common in 914s. It's not hard to test, so make sure you test before buying a new solenoid just in case.

[ammason]

Anybody got one for sale?

[jet1]

Clean all electrical connections first. grounds, battery terminals. My truck acted the same way and I thought it was the soloinoid. turned out to be a bad connection.

[Rand]

I ruled out the solenoid in less than a minute with the old screwdriver trick. (Along with the connections, battery, and ground strap, which could all cause this symptom). It's worth a quick test to see if it cranks when you short between main power terminal and ignition switch terminal. (From red arrow to green in photo below.) Make sure the car is in neutral first of course.

(IMG:http://www.4nets.com/baldwinpowersports/images/starterscrewdriver.jpg)

[michel richard]

I had something a little simlilar. It was the ignition switch.

[ammason]

Hmmm... The only way the screwdriver test will work is if I can catch it when it stops working... Like I said, most of the time it works fine, and when it works, it keps working.

I'm inclined to think it's NOT the ignition switch, as that would be intermittant at the switch, and if I tried it a bunch of times it should start with some statistical frequency. The problem is that when (start-inhibiting condition) is working, I can turn it on and off a million times just fine, and when (start-inhibiting condition) is screwy, I can turn the key a million times and it doesn't so much as click.

[Rand]

True, you can't test until it fails again.

I think a switch or bad connection can be as erratic as any other component.

In the mean time I think you should take jet1's advice. Take the battery cables off and clean the posts and the insides of the terminals. Clean the ground strap connections well. The end that is bolted to the body isn't too bad to get to through the left rear fender if you jack the car up a bit. The transmission end is tougher though.

I just hate to buy parts unless I know they're bad. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

But hey, it's easy to replace a solenoid. I'm curious... I hope you'll post results.

[ammason]

Yeah, I'll go through and check electrical first - it's time for valves/oil anyway.